Portable scrubbing device



1 22a. /2 Fl' H. K. FJELSTAD PORTABLE SCRUBBING DEVICE Filed Aug. 19, 1959 Bla. y

`lune 26, 1962 #von n' m .s Rz mr Vl mK D m A. H

...n W i United States Patent O PORTABLE SCRUBBING DEVICE Harold K. Fjelstad, 6616 4th Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn.-

Filed Augrl9, 1959, Ser. No. 834,797 3 Claims. (Cl. 4-184) This invention relates to a back scrubbing device which 1s adaptable to be conveniently positioned either ina bathtub or on the wall of a shower stall as may be desired. There are areas in the back of a person which are difficult -to reach such as between the shoulder blades or somewhat thereabove or therebelow. Said areas are somewhat difcult to reach even with the aid of a long handled bath brush.

It is desirable therefore to have some convenient means available for easily and thoroughly scrubbing the back of a person and particularly the portions indicated.

It 1s an object of this invention therefore to provide I means which may bepositioned as may be desired to be used for easily and conveniently scrubbing the back of a person.

It is another object of this invention to provide a plate member curved to conform comfortably to the back of a person adapted to have removably secured thereto means such as a wash cloth which may be well soaped against which the back of a person may be urged and moved about for the purpose of having said back scrubbed.

It is another object of this invention to provide a scrubbing device comprising a plate member having its outer surface curved to conform comfortably to the back of a person and having grooved portions extending outwardly at either side thereof somewhat shorter in length then the length of said member, a wash cloth adapted to ICC FIG. 3 is a top plan View of applicants device showing some portions thereof in dotted line;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the applicants device;

FIG. 5 is a view in vertical section taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 3 as indicated by the arrows;

FIG, 6 is a View in vertical section taken on line 6 6 of FIG. 3 as indicated by the arrows; and

FIG. 7 is a View in vertical section similar to that of FIG. 6 showing a modification thereof.

Referring to the FIGS. 1-6, applicants device is shown comprising a plate member 1l). While said plate member 10 may be variouslyr formed, it is preferably formed as a plate member suchas of a plastic material of small thickness having a concavely curved front surface. The curvature will be such as it will be comfortable for the back portion of a person to be pressed thereagainst. Said plate member 16 comprises afront or upper surface 12 and a ylower'surface 11 and has convexly curved end portions 13 and 14 and rectilinear sides 15 and 16. Extending outwardly of said sides 15 and 16 respectively for substantial portions of the length thereof are flange portions 18 and 19. Said llange portions are here vshown to be contiguous with said sides 15 and 16 and being substantially semicircular in vertical cross section havingformed therein longitudinally extending grooves 18a and 19a. VSaidiiange portions 18 and 19 are shown to extend to points just short of the curved end portions of said plate member lil.

overlie said member and resilient means disposed about t the 'ends of said member and through said grooves to secure said wash cloth to said plate member and means for removably securing said plate member in a desirable position.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a back scrubbing device comprising a plate member adapted to have a wash cloth removably secured thereto, a plurality of spaced recessed portions in the under side of said plate member, suction holdingmembers adapted to have their base portions secured in said recessed portions and being adapted to be removably secured to a surface in a desirable position.-

With reference to the previous object, it is also an object of this invention to have the transversely spaced of said recessed portions have their bottoms inclined at angles whereby said suction members will be inclined to be adapted to be secured to the curved end portion of a bathtub.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a plate member having a depending ilange portion at either side `thereof having open grooves extending longitudinally therethrough in the outer faces of said flange portions, said flange portions being disposed in planes substantially at right angles to the plane of said plate member, a wash cloth adapted to overlie said plate member in said flange portions, an endless resilient member adapted to be disposed in said grooves about said plate member to removably hold said wash cloth in operating position and means for securing said plate member in a desirable position.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be fully set forth in the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawingsin which like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views and in which:

FIG. l is a view in perspective of applicants device on a reduced scale showing the same in operating position;

FlG. 2 is a view in horizontal section taken on line 2-2 Said plate member 10 may be adapted in various ways to be removably held in operating position. In the embodiment of the invention here disclosed, said plate member 10 is indicated as having formed in the bottom 11 thereof, spaced circular recessed portionsy 22, 23, 24 and 25. The respective bottoms 22a, 23a, 24a and 25a of said recessed portions, as Vindicated in (FIG. 2, are inclined slightly from the horizontal. Said bottom portions 22a and 24a are inclined upwardly transversely from the horizontal in the direction of their adjacent outer sides of said member 10. The bottoms 23a and 25a are inclined upwardly transversely from the horizontal in the direction of their respective outer sides of said member 10 as indicated in FIG. 2. v

Adapted to be respectively secured to said recessed prortions 22-25 are holding members 26 here indicated as being in the form of suction cups havingbase portions 26a adapted to be disposed in said recessed portions 22-25 respectively and having upper cup shaped portions 26h adapted to be secured to a flat preferably non-porous surface in a manner well known. As indicated in FIG. 2 the cups 26 secured to said recessed portions 24 and 25 will be inclined sufliciently to very nicely mate with the curved end portions 31a of a bathtub 31. Secured about the peripheries of said recessed portions 22-25 are flange members 27, 2S, 29 and 30 to provide a bead like member adapted to be snug about the base portions 26a of said holding members 26 to seal the same in position and to prevent moisture from loosening the same. -f l There has been found that in forming said plate member 10 of a plastic material it is desirable to have said plate member 10 of as thin construction as possible and in order to have said recessed portions 22-25 of a suicient depth it is more practical to form a bead like flange 27-30 about said portions.

Adapted to be disposed over said plate member 1li is a member 32 well adapted for scrubbing the back of a person and which is here indicated as being in the form of a wash cloth. Said wash cloth will be of sucient size to overlie said plate member 10 completely having portions adapted to be folded over and underlie the ends of said plate member and to overlie said grooved portions 18u and 19a at either side of said plate member. An elastic endless member 35 is here provided disposed under the ends 19a in overlying said wash cloth 32 to hold the same in position. Applicants device is shown in operating position in FIG. 1.

Applicants device is also adapted to be secured to a flat wall surface such as the wall of a shower stall by having a slight modiiication in the bottom construction of said recesses 22 2S as indicated in FIG. 6. Herein said recessed portions 22 and Z4 indicative of all ofthe recesses are indicated as having flat bottom surfaces 22%: and 2li-a providing a slight modiiication of the construction shown in FIG. 2.

In operation, applicants device may be conveniently positioned either in the end portion of a tub as indicated in FIG. 1 or on the wall surface of a shower stall and as here indicated will be removably secured in a desired position by means of said suction cups 26. The use of the device is quite obvious with the wash cloth well soaped placed over said plate member 10 and removably secured thereto by the holding member 35. The operator merely urges his back against applicants device rubbing his back against the same to produce the desired result.

A slight modification of the applicants device is shown in FIG. 7 secured to a hat wall surface 36 and wherein all parts are identical with the parts previously described and are indicated by the same characters with a modification being present in the construction of flange portions at either side thereof here indicated by the characters 18 and 19'. Said flanges 18 and 19 vary from said anges 18 and 19 in being disposed in a depending position in relation to said plate 1d wherein the grooves 1Sa and 19a face in opposed directions just below the surface of said plate member 10.

Thus, it is seen that I have provided an ecient very simply constructed back scrubbing device vwhich has been found to be of great convenience in use.

It will of course be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangements and proportions of the parts, without departing from the scope of applicants invention which, generally stated, consists in a device capable of carrying out the objects above set forth, in the parts and combinations of parts disclosed and deined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A portable scrubbing device comprising a rigid plate member substantially rectangular in plan having a concave CIK curvature in transverse section, a iiange extending outwardly at either side of said plate member short of the full length thereof at either end thereof and being in a plane below an extension of the surface of said plate member, :said flanges respectively having upwardly facing grooves extending longitudinally thereof, a scrubbing cloth overlying `said plate member and said flanges, an endless elastic member placed over said scrubbing cloth and being disposed in said grooves and under either end of said plate member, and means carried by the rear side of said plate member removably securing the same to a wall surface.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1, said plate member having a plurality of recessed portions at the rear side thereof spaced transversely and longitudinally thereof, said transversely spaced recessed portions having their bottom surfaces divergingly inclined in the direction of the front side of Said plate member and lying within the extension of a curvature to substantially mate the curvature of the foot end of a bathtub and suction cups having their base portions respectively secured in said recessed portions having mating engagement with said foot end portion of said bathtub.v

3. A portable scrubbing device comprising a rigid plate member substantially rectangular in plan having a front concavely curved surface to mate the curvature of the back portion of a person, a flange portion at either side of said plate member and short of the full length of said plate member with respect to either end of said plate member, said flange portions respectively having longitudinal grooves within the outer sides thereof, a scrubbing cloth disposed over said plate member and said anges, an end less elastic member disposed over said scrubbing cloth and Within said grooves of said ange portions and under either end of said plate member, and means carried by the rear side of said plate member securing the same to a supporting surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 466,206 Welles Dec. 29, 1891 843,260 Cloud Feb. 5, 1907 1,504,365 Mayhood Aug. 12, 1924 1,954,940 Mikel Apr. 17, 1934 

